Former Salem official convicted of rape to argue for new trial

Jeffrey Gray, 51, appeared Wednesday in Rockingham County Superior Court after filing an argument for a new trial. Gray was convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault last June.
JAMES A. KIMBLE (JAMES KIMBLE/UNION LEADER CORRESPONDENT)

BRENTWOOD – A former Salem town official serving a 7- to 14-year prison sentence for luring a pregnant New York woman to his home and raping her appeared in court Wednesday, taking his first step toward arguing for a new trial.

Jeffrey Gray, 51, is claiming that false testimony from a Windham police detective and the 34-year-old victim led a jury to convict him last June on a single count of aggravated felonious sexual assault.

The jury found Gray not guilty of seven other charges including kidnapping.

Gray met the Queens, N.Y., woman through Craigslist in 2011. She briefly stayed with him at a rented house in Windham when she was raped in March 2011, according to prosecutors.

Gray was serving on the Salem Planning Board at the time of his arrest.

Judge Marguerite Wageling, who presided over Gray's trial, set a Nov. 14 hearing so he can argue for a new trial.

Wageling cautioned Gray against moving forward without an attorney, but she ultimately decided to allow him to represent himself at the upcoming hearing.

"I know this case more than any other attorney that can come on," Gray told the judge. "I know exactly where I am going with this."

For more on this story, see Thursday's edition of the New Hampshire Union Leader.

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